Watson fellows return to talk about their travels

Publication Date

Two Watson fellows return to campus this week to discuss their travels and answer questions about the fellowship program.

Frederick “Rahde” Franke ’10 and James Burleigh Morton ’10 will share their experiences traveling abroad at 5 p.m. Thursday in Visual Arts 215.

Franke’s project, “Out of the Kitchen and Into the Fire: Exploring Open-Fire Cooking Around the World,” took him to Jamaica, Turkey, India, Vietnam and Argentina. Morton’s research, “Large Format Cargo: Photographing the Shipping Industry,” led him to numerous sites in Southeast Asia, Australia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany.

The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program offers a one-year grant to graduating college seniors “of unusual promise” to study independently outside the United States. The stipend for individual award winners is $25,000. Union is one of only 40 schools in the U.S. that is eligible to apply.

Past Watson winners from Union include Andy Krauss ’08, who researched the development of outrigger canoes and paddles in Tonga, the Cook Islands and the French Polynesia; Noah Eber-Schmid ’06, who investigated punk music and culture in Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Finland; Adam Grode ’05, who studied long-necked lutes in Central Asia; and Nori Lupfer ’03, who photographed circuses in motion on several continents.

This year’s deadline is Sept. 28 and all seniors are invited to apply. For information, contact Maggie Tongue at extension 8311 or tonguem@union.edu.